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CARDIFF - Beleaguered Wales coach Gareth Jenkins insisted there was still time for his side to be a force at the World Cup after their final warm-up match ended in a comprehensive 34-7 defeat against France here at the Millennium Stadium.
Jenkins, who has won just four of
his 16 Tests in charge, told reporters after the latest loss his team were on course for their opening World Cup match against Canada in Nantes on September 9.
"By the time two weeks today comes, we'll be ready for Canada, I've no doubt about that," he said.
"We are not where France are at the moment. But the next challenge we've got is Canada. It's a huge game for us. Then we come back here six days after (to Cardiff) to play Australia. They are the two big games we are concerned about.
"Sides like France will look after themselves. If we get to the quarter-finals, we'll then have one-off games and by then I think we'll be a more improved team."
On the evidence of Sunday's performance, they will need to be. With two teams from four pools qualfying for the quarter-finals, Wales should reach the last eight.
Given that Pool B also includes Japan and Fiji, with Wales having home advantage against both the Wallabies and the Japanese, and it is easy to see why many Welsh fans will not regard qualification for the knockout stages as a major achievement.
But with either England, who earlier this month inflicted a record 62-5 thrashing upon Wales at Twickenham, or the highly-regarded South Africa, their likely quarter-final opponents, plenty of work remains if Jenkins's men are to go any further in the World Cup.
"We'll identify the areas where we have to work and our training environment is pretty competitive," said Jenkins after a defeat which followed the previous weekend's nervy 27-20 home win against Argentina.
But few practice programmes could, or would, want to match the intensity of a contest that was particularly bruising for Wales.
Props Chris Horsman and Duncan Jones (both shoulder), full-back Kevin Morgan (knee), scrum-half Dwayne Peel (calf) and captain Gareth Thomas, who had some 20 stitches inserted into face wounds, were all left nursing injuries.
However, Wales were not just simply bullied physically.
France, having withstood an England team whose game is based around forward power, out-ran a Wales side that prides itself on its free-flowing rugby.
They finished the game having scored four tries to Wales's one with the best their first from lock Jerome Thion, which crowned a fine handling move.
"There are a lot of sides to the French game," said Jenkins. "That first 15 minutes, they took the game to us.
"They scored a great try. That was one of the best tries scored against us for a long time."
Admittedly, Wales outside-half James Hook did something that was beyond England in both their back-to-back defeats against the Six Nations champions when he crossed the French line on the stroke of half-time.
But that could not disguise how much more ruthless France, third in the world rankings to Wales's eighth, were when they got in sight of the try-line, a point Jenkins made himself.
"I really do feel we've been competitive in every aspect of that game apart from finishing," the former Llanelli boss added.
"We're hugely disappointed. But it's not the World Cup yet."
- AFP
